SS65 are excited to show the London leg of this touring exhibition by renowned photographer John Palatinus.

John Palatinus is one of the few surviving leaders in the fight for the freedom to disseminate gay photography and art during the 1950’s and 60’s. He is a legendary photographer from an era now called the Golden Age of Physique Photography. At that time in America, it was illegal to send even seminude photographs through the U.S. Mail.

From 1954 to 1959, Palatinus worked in his studios in Northern Indiana and New York City, photographing young male bodybuilders. His photographs were published in numerous bodybuilding magazines of the era, most notably Tomorrow’s Man, a pocket-sized publication featuring males with posing straps or other coverings for their privates. In early 1959 his now classic photographs were driven from the market by zealous US Postal Inspectors aided by the New York Police Department in highly-publicized raids. All of John’s cameras, equipment, photographs, negatives, and mailing lists were confiscated and never returned.

Now, after more than half a century, his almost forgotten work has been re-discovered, thanks to the work of archivist and curator of vintage physique photography Alan Harmon.